MARITIME HISTORY 



it ever became necessary they would erect one.^"" Holman was a successful 

 Weymouth privateersman, whose name often occurs in official papers of the 

 period. The Weymouth Corporation took up the question — indeed, Holman 

 was probably their mouthpiece all through — and eventually, in order to pre- 

 vent the privilege falling into private hands, the Trinity House obtained a 

 patent for themselves dated 26 May, 1716.^°' They built two lighthouses, 

 an upper and lower, on the west side of Portland, and intended to lead 

 between the Race and the Shambles ; these were sublet on a lease which 

 expired in 1777.'°^ 



The lights were coal fires and, besides being feeble, were badly attended 

 to ; in 1752 two Elder Brethren of the Trinity House happened to be passing 

 Portland on a journey westward and noticed that the fires were not lit until 

 two hours after sunset, that the lower light then glimmered faintly for an 

 hour and ceased, and that the upper light burnt fitfully for a long time 

 before it gave a steady brightness.'"^ When they commented on the matter 

 they were told that often the lights did not show all night. In 1789 a new 

 tower, built by William Johns of Weymouth, was erected further to the 

 eastward for the lower light ; it was then lit with oil, the upper one having 

 been altered for oil in 1788.'°* In 1822 these lights were producing 

 a net revenue of some ;r2,300 a year.'"'" Both lighthouses have been 

 abandoned recently in favour of a new one erected 130 yards from the eastern 

 extremity of Portland Bill, standing 141 feet above high-water mark and 

 fitted with all the latest improvements. This, which shows an upper and 

 lower light in the one tower, was lit in January, 1906. 



A lightship was placed on the east end of the Shambles Shoal from 

 I September, 1859. The other shore lights are Weymouth north pier, 1867, 

 south stone pier, 1896 ; Anvil Point, 1881 ; Swanage pier, 1897 ; Bourne- 

 mouth pier, 1880 ; Boscombe pier, 1894 ; Poole, North Haven Point, 1848, 

 Sandbanks pier, 1898 ; and Lyme Regis, 1853. The first Portland 

 breakwater light was shown in 1851, and afterwards from the fort at the 

 end of the breakwater as then completed in 1876 ; the number and position 

 of the lights have been continually changing recently as extensions have 

 progressed. 



The earliest sea marks used in navigation were prominent objects, such as 

 church towers and natural heights. Of the latter there is no lack along the 

 Dorset coast, and their existence has obviated the necessity for artificial 

 beacons of which there is only one, that put up by the Trinity House 

 on Portland Bill. The date of this is 1844 ; it probably succeeded an older 

 beacon but one of no great antiquity. Wyke Regis church, in conjunction 

 with the north-east end of Portland, has long been a leading mark to clear 

 the Shambles, and St. Aldhelm's and St. Catherine's chapels, especially the 

 latter, were old sea marks. 



During the eighteenth century Great Britain, having won the command 

 of home waters, was fighting for the mastery of the oceans therefore local 

 maritime history ceased, for the most part, to have any intimate connexion 

 with naval events. The chief anxiety on the coast now related not to the 



"'° Hardy, British Lighthouses, 104. '"' Pat. 2 Geo. I, pt. iv. 



'"' Pari. Papers, 1861, xxv, 420. '"' Hardy, British Lighthouses, 10;. 



'"' Pari Papers, 1861, xxv, 420 ; Kay Collection, B.M. Nos. 164, 165, 169. 



""^ Pari. Papers, 1822, xxi, 497. 



221 



